The Pregnancy Microbiome: The Link Between Maternal Periodontitis and Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes: Opinion

Abstract

Objective: To study the correlations of periodontal disease in the woman with pregnancy and low birth weigth infant (LBWI). Methods: Pubmed and Wiley online searches were conducted to identify articles published in dental journals from January 2013 to November 2018 focusing on pregnancy women and LBWI and its correlations with periodontal disease. Manual searches of published full-text articles and related reviews were performed afterwards. Result: The initial database search produced 44 articles. A total 6 studies were selected for inclusion, with total 995 pregnancy women as subjects. All of the studies showed the associations of plaque index (PI), gingival index (GI), probing depth (PD), bleeding on probing (BOP), clinical attachment loss (CAL), gestational age (GA) and birth weight. Conclusion: Periodontal disease in the pregnancy women is one risk factor for adverse pregnancy outcomes such as infant low birth weight.